Lifting the lid on the Hall bathrooms

Students have been voicing strong opinions on the state of the bathrooms in the Hall building, both online and around campus.

“They’re nasty,” said English literature student Marco Buttice. “I constantly see urinals with out-of-order signs. I think they just haven’t been renovated in a really long time, and it shows.”

“The washroom facilities were renovated within the last 10 years and the ground level men’s washroom was refreshed and had new stall dividers installed this past summer,” said University Spokesperson Mary-Jo Barr. She added that the women’s bathrooms on the main floor will also be renovated this coming summer and that new stall dividers were installed this past summer.

Barr said renovations are often done during the summer months when there are fewer people using the building, “to limit the impact on the community.”

The problems are not isolated to the main floor. Just last week, the women’s bathroom on the 10th floor was out of order, forcing students go to a different floor. A sink in a 9th-floor women’s bathroom makes a loud screeching sound when it’s on, but no water comes out of the tap. Many sink handles are rusted to the point that they can no longer be turned.

Four out of nine stalls and three out of nine urinals in the 4th-floor men’s bathroom are marked as out of order. Two floors up, a row of four stalls is blocked off to “repair [a] faulty main shut-off valve,” according to a sign posted between two of the stalls. Two other urinals in the building, despite not being marked as “out of order,” do not drain properly, and are beginning to overflow with water and urine. Even the urinals that do work often have very poor water flow.

Some toilets are clogged, others don’t flush, and some flood or leak when flushed. Water from flooded toilets spreads into neighbouring stalls, rendering those useless as well.

These issues limit the number of stalls that can be used. Third-year political science and human rights student, Olivia Salembier, said “because of the reduced amount of stalls available, very large lines develop, so you have to wait a decent amount of time, especially in between classes.”

“Overall, the cleanliness is absolutely awful,” said Salembier. Business student Bronte Williams agreed, and said “I think the Hall bathrooms are of such low standards compared to other buildings at Concordia.”

Barr said the bathrooms are cleaned on a daily basis, though some students don’t feel that’s enough. “I understand some people vandalize the bathrooms and this is hard to control, but more janitorial services for the bathrooms could eliminate the poor standards in terms of smell, dirt, and general filth,” said Williams.

“No major significant complaints or issues related to the Hall building washrooms have been made via the appropriate comments or complaints forms,” Barr said. Katherina Boucher, an anthropology and journalism major said, “I actually don’t think I go one day without complaining about it and honestly, I just do the detour to the John Molson School of Business building if I have the time.”

To make an official complaint regarding bathroom facilities, Barr said students should contact Facilities Management at Call2400@concordia.ca or call 514-848-2424 ext. 2400.